Ira Merkel
Gastroenterology · Somerset, NJNPI 1336146125
Payments from drug & device makers
Across 154 payments — averaging $16.50 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- AbbVie$881
- Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC$257
- Johnson & Johnson$249
- Echosens North America, Inc.$213
- Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.$206
- Pfizer$151
- plus $583 from 14 others
Across 1 payment — averaging $1312.50 each. Payments tied to a research study. These frequently flow through the physician to a hospital or research institution rather than to the physician personally.
- AbbVie$1K
What the payments were for
- Food & beverage$2,534100%
- Education$70%
Most of this is food and beverage — typically meals provided during product presentations at a clinic or hospital. Nationally that is the single largest category of reported payments by count.
General payments by program year
Who reported the general payments
Companies are grouped under their corporate parent — a single manufacturer often files under several CMS reporting entities. Research and ownership payments are counted separately and are not in this table.
| Company | Payments | Total |
|---|---|---|
| AbbVie(2 entities) | 58 | $881 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 18 | $257 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 18 | $249 |
| Echosens North America, Inc. | 2 | $213 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 14 | $206 |
| Pfizer | 10 | $151 |
| Sanofi | 1 | $117 |
| Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 8 | $116 |
| Braintree Laboratories, Inc. | 7 | $97 |
| Gilead | 4 | $52 |
| Daiichi Sankyo Inc. | 3 | $41 |
| Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 2 | $28 |
| QOL Medical, LLC | 2 | $24 |
| Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc | 1 | $17 |
| Alfasigma USA, Inc. | 1 | $16 |
| Bristol Myers Squibb | 1 | $16 |
| Merck | 1 | $15 |
| Organon | 1 | $15 |
| Ardelyx, Inc. | 1 | $14 |
| Nestle Healthcare Nutrition Inc. | 1 | $14 |
What the payments were tied to
Products named in the reported payments. Only payments of $100 or more are attributed here — the typical reported payment nationally is a meal worth about $16, and listing those product-by-product would be noise.
How this compares
$2,541 in reported general payments places this provider in the 50th percentile of 701 gastroenterology providers in New Jersey.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| Esomeprazole Magnesium | 39 | $1,019 |
| Pantoprazole Sodium | 57 | $846 |
| Famotidine | 36 | $680 |
| Omeprazole | 16 | $290 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other gastroenterology in Somerset
- Kiran RaoSparta$1.3M
- Adekunle AdeotiIrvington$1.2M
- Carl WallachMorristown$766K
- Vinod RustgiNew Brunswick$697K
- Arvind TrindadeNew Brunswick$652K
- Barry KaufmanEgg Harbor Township$595K
- Promila BanerjeeStratford$522K
- Neil NagariaToms River$442K
- Zamir BrelviNewark$408K
- Adam ElfantMount Laurel$385K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.